inquiry – discovery

There is power in creating a learning space where everyone’s strengths and learning needs are not only addressed but valued. It is a skill that we must teach our children; as a working adult, and a teacher, I realize the potential of being part of a team where we use our different experiences and skills to create something deliverable to a class.

I got to co-teach a music block during my practicum, which proved to be difficult at times because of the difference in teaching styles. Still, there was a unique energy in co-teaching that creates a unique classroom environment. I feel the same energy here working with my team. This collaboration time that we are afforded in our planning week at the Vancouver Biennale is so valuable. If only schools not only encouraged but provided a time and a space for teachers to sit down at a big table and lay out our thinking and planning, then schools could really be transformed! It is incredible how much work we have completed in one morning. We have used each other’s strengths: Erin’s creative ideas, Ashleigh’s artistic talents, my organized facilitation, and we have established the “big idea” to teach a mini- unit next week at Walter Moberly School.

I am looking forward to going into the classroom with the ladies, and teaching our class of 4/5′s using the units which we are planning right now.

Developing Inquiring Minds

Tomorrow our class is taking a class field trip to Water #10, which is an art sculpture near Aberdeen Station on River Road. We will be exploring what “Interdependence” feels and looks like, through our unit study on Plants and Growth.

(photo from VB Learn)

“The idea is for the teacher to ask more questions to stimulate thoughts and share their ideas. It is important to encourage no right or wrong answers and someone’s ideas can lead to new ideas and thoughts. Do not give them answers and let them come through with the answers – it may take longer but it would engage students and develop inquiring minds.”

— Katherine Tong from Vancouver Biennale

It is very exciting for the students to look forward to this walking field trip, but I am also curious about the students’ participation tomorrow. It is a little frightening at first, to let the students take charge of their own learning. The fear is that they will “get off topic” or “not have the relevant ideas”. But when I think critically about my teaching practice, I realize that it isn’t possible to ‘get off topic’ if the topic is where the students direct the conversation. When the idea is a BIG IDEA, any of the students’ connections and inquiries will likely fall under the BIG IDEA. I want the students to understand the importance of interdependence in Nature, and to begin to appreciate the complexity of a balance as created through inter-dependency. In our exploration of the space, and of our own bodies and representations of what it means to grow and depend on each other (humans and nature, communities), I am positive that the students will have a meaningful learning experience.